Hellström, Jennifer

Abstract [en]

The aim with this essay is to examine how two Swedish newspapers, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter, have framed Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the US presidential election in 2016. The goal with this essay is to contribute to research on how politicians are described in the news media and how politicians’ gender affect this description. The research questions are as follows:

1. How did the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter frame Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during US presidential election in 2016?

2. What similarities and differences can be seen between the two candidates, in how they were framed?

3. Were there any similarities and differences between the two newspapers, in how they framed the candidates?

In order to answer the research questions, we conducted a quantitative content analysis, in which we analyzed 160 news articles. The articles were published between February first and November eighth in 2016. Through, first, a strategic, and then, a systematic selection 80 articles for each candidate were selected. For the survey three theoretical fields were chosen; framing theory, media logic (focusing on personalization) and gender theory. The quantitative content analysis coding scheme is based on these theories.

The results show that game and strategy framing was the most prevalent form of framing in both newspapers, about half of all the articles were framed as game and strategy. The most common topic of the articles was “the election, opinion polls and media”. The result also showed that Trump often was termed as evil, as a loser, and the articles were often negatively angled towards him. Clinton was more often termed as good, as a winner and the articles were more positive towards her. However, Trump got the most attention in both papers. The survey also shows a higher degree of personalization against Clinton and she weren’t quoted in the articles as much as Trump. No major differences were seen between the newspapers in their use of frames and the degree of personalization.